I thought it would be interesting to see what people are saying about Starbucks on the official Starbucks Facebook page. It’s a little bit of everything. I drew together a small sampling of status updates, excluding the many palm oil comments, which are spammed everywhere.
It’s interesting to notice that some people love the connection. Some people are frustrated with incorrectly made drinks. One person says that stores are over air-conditioned. To be expected, at least one person noticed the change in this year’s Mocha Coconut Frappuccino.
Have you ever left a comment on the official Starbucks Facebook Page? What would you want to tell Starbucks?
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Melody, I love this idea as a topic for your blog. I have written on the Starbucks page many times… never to complain, mind you, since I am a #1 Starbucks Fan. One of the things I wrote which gave me the most joy was to thank Starbucks for the opportunity to be a partner. Although my stint was brief, it was an amazing time for me. I made some wonderful friends both behind the counter and in front of it. My local favorite Starbucks still calls me a partner, and I swell with pride every time they do.
@Lisa – That makes my heart sing. Great comment. The overwhelming majority of my own Starbucks experiences are superb! I’m particularly impressed with 4th & Pine at Westlake. Such an enormously diverse customer base -something new every moment. And they’re always busy and still really do an excellent job with beverages and the experience.
Been thinking about reaching out to corporate about my new neighborhood store. My family recently moved to Hawaii and the store near us is a disaster. They get tons of drinks wrong, only get ONE bottle of Mango syrup a week, so they run out within 48- hours, and recently chided my sone for ordering a vanilla bean frappucino with 4 pumps of Peach. They said that peach syrup “curdles the milk” so therefore they’re “not allowed” to add it to anything other than tea. There’s other observations we’ve made as well. Having been spoiled by an incredible store in our previous neighborhood, these things are glaring at us.
@MistaMeyahgey – I’m sorry to hear that. There’s definitely no reason why you son can’t get a Frappuccino with peach syrup added to it. One thing I’ve seen happening at Starbucks is the really strong temptation to be “barista Sheriffs.” It’s not the majority of baristas, but there is a small segment of partners who act as if they are there to give out infractions and even get mad when they can’t: They’re the ones who are secretly mad when a customer orders a refresher no water, sub lemonade…because there’s no way to charge that. The peach syrup in a Frappuccino is an example of that. The “barista sheriffs” are quick to say “no” – LIke saying “no” to a customer that we can’t heat up a turkey and Havarti sandwich.
I think it comes from a couple of different things – stores where baristas don’t feel any kind of empowerment to make the customer’s experience great, because they themselves have to live in fear of a “write up,” because of the kind of management above them. And at some deep sub conscious level, I think some people thrive on that kind of power…these are the personality types who go into law enforcement maybe! And it comes from a lack of good development from people above them.
I’ve been very darn lucky not to see that happening here in my experiences (or at least very rarely) but I’ve heard countless, countless stories like yours. Some of what I’ve heard about inspired me to write this (also in talking to partners) – http://starbucksmelody.com/2015/05/12/10-ways-starbucks-could-improve/
The larger thing that I see happening is that culturally, customer service is dying. It would seem that the millennial generation doesn’t value it so much. All you have to do is look on the internet and see a million internet memes bashing customers’ experiences. They are out there. It’s a bad era to be a customer, generally speaking. People say that seeing and reading those kinds of things don’t affect them, but subconsciously, it can.
It’s a struggle, a real struggle: For the barista, they see what feels like 20,000 customers each day. For that customer, he or she is the only barista they’ll see, likely. To keep it individualized and remember that that one customer’s experience is important, well that is difficult.
And I say all this with the huge caveat that I know there are a number of amazing partners out there giving 110% each day. If any are reading this, they’re probably fantastic partners. (I have the sense that my readership skews to more experienced, invested partners? but I don’t really know).
Seriously, I have no idea why anyone wants to give themselves high blood pressure and gray hair …over a few ounces of lemonade or a couple ounces of caramel sauce? That’s a recipe to premature aging! LOL
I don’t use Facbeook, so I’ll comment instead here. The customer service experiences in the DC suburbs are lacking more often than they are positive recently, my my family’s experiences.
About a month ago, a Starbucks dumped a hot drink down my mom’s hand as they transferred it into the car. I get it, it happens, I’d say my mom could have been equally to blame … but the barista did indicate the tops weren’t fitting great. At the drive thru, she was offered napkins. My mom parked went inside because her hand was burned and the staff had no idea what to do – she had to prompt them for ice and salve. After 20 or 30 minutes of treating, she asked if they were supposed to file a report. Which they did. Fortunately, she didn’t require further medical treatment and the welts subsided over the next couple days. While the baristas blew it and clearly require more training, corporate did follow up with her and that was a positive experience for her.
On Wednesday of this week, I went into Starbucks specifically for cold brew. The woman at the register informed me they were out, but she thought they had another batch steeping and to check back in 1-2 hours. That was it. No apology, no suggestion of another drink I might enjoy, and no guarantee they really had a pitcher or a pot somewhere in progress. So of course, I left and did not come back 2 hours later. The sad thing is, I think the woman who was assisting me was the manager and the store was empty, so I’d think she’d have time for a little more conversation on the matter or verifying there was indeed cold brew on the way.
Lastly, in general , iced drinks often seem to be lost in the shuffle during busy times. I rarely order hot drinks, but my iced coffee or iced Americano are frequently skipped or missed. Maybe they should use opaque cups instead of clear plastic? I don’t know, but waiting around as folks behind me get their fraps and lattes is frustrating. I know sometimes it makes more sense to keep the line moving, maybe the hot stuff is more readily available, but I’m talking about unintentional skips. Where my little lonely cup is on the edge and I have to point it out to remind someone I’m waiting for a drink.
Sadly, this poor service has been too frequent in my experience and it’s why I’ve drastically cut my visits and my spend – I’m visiting Starbucks far lass frequently in 2015, and 2014 had been less frequently than 2013. And by “my visits” I include my wife as well, as we often go together or meet up midday. I imagine corporate is aware – they have my cards/accounts on file. It’s too bad as I was probably what you’d have once called a Starbucks Fanboy.
@DaveZ – You are not alone. I have watched an uptick in this kinds of disconcerting situations. Partners have to be given a lot of tools and education about how what they do affects the brand reputation. (And they can’t work in fear of the “write up”.)
Even for myself, there was one time this week I bought an oatmeal with all the toppings (Classic oatmeal) plus asked for one extra brown sugar. I received the oatmeal with just two brown sugars. When trying to get a little plastic bag of the nuts and raisins that go with it, the barista was clearly upset that she “got it right” and was pretty defensive, rather than just handing me nuts and raisins. But here in Seattle, this is rare.
Nonetheless, I read tons and tons and tons of Facebook posts, comments on this blog, and emails to me, that suggest that Starbucks needs to re-focus on delivering an excellent experience, not just a great drink.
I know – and I hear this over and over and over again – one customer is not important. No executive or SSC partner or store manager really worries about any one single customer who is not coming back. I doubt it would make waves if I stopped going to Starbucks (please don’t respond to that – I don’t plan on changing my Starbucks visit frequency). It’s only when an executive is shown a graph of declining same store sales or foot traffic – a graph and numbers – not a name and a real person – that the sh+t will hit the fan.
Again, my own experiences are 95% awesome. But you are not alone and it’s enough that I worry about this issue a lot. I would love to hear Starbucks respond in some way (I don’t necessarily mean respond to me personally, rather make a visible concerted effort to bring the Starbucks experience to life) but this doesn’t seem the direction things are going.
Store traffic probably isn’t decline, it just isn’t maximized. For every customer like me that they lose, I imagine there are two new teenage customers attracted to new, unheathly frap concoctions — customer makeup seems to be changing as they expand the frap line. At least it does out here in the ‘bubrs.
@Dave – It would take some hubris to think that losing customers here and there is no big deal because 2 teenagers are waiting to take their place. Furthermore, statistically teenagers haven’t got the discretionary income that adults do. Well, actually the “boomer” generation still has more disposable income than any other generation. My little generation – gen X – seems to be forgotten by retailers! LOL
Despite all that, the only point of all this is that there enough signs in social media, comments on this blog, and other places that Starbucks could improve partner training and expectations surrounding customer experience.